Resources for Current Students

Dear Students,

As many of you know, at the end of last year, Liberal & Civic Studies began its transition to the name Justice, Community and Leadership (JCL). Programs regularly undergo review and we have spent the last two years rethinking our name and focus while also reviewing each of our classes. We are proud of all that Liberal & Civic Studies has always been and we look forward to extending our success streak under our new name.

To clarify, we are pleased to announce the following changes:

*The program name has been changed to Justice, Community and Leadership. We believe that this name better represents the emphasis the program has had since its inception.

*Every course in the program has been reviewed and revised, so that the key themes are organized across courses. Readings, service-learning, and all writing types and methods of evaluation have also been coordinated.

*Out of program course requirements have been coordinated with Saint Mary's Core Curriculum designations to help students to pursue double majors or minors. Neither a double major or minor is required, however.

*Students may pursue the general Justice, Community, and Leadership major, or they may pursue concentrations in education (either the existing 4+1 Teachers for Tomorrow program – TFT – or a parallel Education Studies program that does not include the graduate portion of the TFT concentration). There is also a new 4+1 agreement with the M.A. in Leadership for Social Justice.

*All freshmen in our program will begin in the new JCL curriculum. Most sophomores will be able to transition into the new program requirements. Most juniors and all seniors will finish out the LCS program

We have created the following JCL to LCS course conversion guide to be used as a reference for students in the process of transitioning: